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The future is bright. Dejulius will be a tough scoring point guard who can play defense, Johns and Brazdeikis are super talented, Nunez is a lights out shooter, Castleton is an elite shot blocker. We'll be fine without Moe.

This Loyola team is a dangerous team. Their center Krutwig is a really great passer out of the high post. They have lots of shooters, and they often play a switch-everything defense. They slip the ball screen often. Custer is a very crafty guard. They rotate on defense very well.

Michigan is going to need to prevent Krutwig from making easy passes by pressuring the ball when he has it. They will also need to be disciplined and run shooters off the three point line. Winning the rebounding battle by a healthy margin would help too.

At 0:46 might be an example for why Beilein doesn't play Wagner as much. Wagner starts by turning his head, and his man cuts behind him. He quickly realizes this, and finds his man again but there is no excuse for his positioning here. Maybe he thinks he should not be on his man to be ready to help in the lane, but the guy with the ball hasn't yet even made a move on Walton, so there is no need to help on the drive. The ball gets kicked to the corner and Wagner is left in no man's land. He isn't behind his man to protect the basket, and he isn't fronting his man to prevent any kind of pass. The ball gets passed quickly to his man and Wagner is way behind the play. Luckily his man doesn't see the baseline wide open and spin for a quick basket. Also, notice how Wilson has to come help because of Wagner's poor positioning. Luckily the guy with the ball can't kick the ball out because the VT player in the corner doesn't flare closer to the baseline. This allows Irvin to play the passing lanes of both his man and the guy in the corner. This forces the guy with the ball to put up a contested layup between 2 defenders. Notice how Wagner's initial poor positioning from the beginning of the possession causes him to be behind his man. No one else on Michigan can get back to help rebound quick enough because they all executed their defense properly while Wagner didn't. Wagner's poor positioning (again caused from earlier in the possession) compromised his teammates from being in position to help on the boards quick enough. The way the rebound bounced, Wagner would have had the best shot at the rebound if he had been between his man and the basket. Wilson had been taken out of the play because he had to help contest the initial shot. VT gets the offensive board, and once again Wagner can't effectively challenge the put back because he is behind his man. This is just one mistake from just one game, and Wagner will learn, but this possession indicates his current lack of awareness and understanding of certain defensive fundamentals. Again, he will get better, and I believe he should play more, but I understand why Beilein could be frustrated.

If we aren't in the playoff, I'd rather see us play the highest ranked team of our possible matchups, whoever that ends up being. Curbstomping that team would be a nice way to make a statement to the committee that we should have been in the top 4.

I think his game translates better to the NBA than college. In college he was asked to be a ball dominant main scoring option, and he struggled a bit. In the NBA, his ability to pass and handle the ball are a plus at his position, and he can play off the ball more. He can be like a Jamal Crawford type where he can be a microwave guy and can occasionally run the point.

Kentucky's coaching is terrible. All they do is try to get the ball in the post, and if that action is denied, they have one player at a time try to freestyle their way into a bucket occassionally with the help of a screen. They rely on individual talent rather than team play.

They don't have the player who is talented enough to take over games down the stretch. LeVert had been that player before his injury. He took over against Villanova in that comeback and in the win against Oregon his shot wasn't falling but he got to the free throw line. No one on this roster can consistently create shots for themselves and others, especially in the clutch.

We have missed at least 2 layups, 3 or 4 easy open 12 footers, and several open threes. To make things worse we have missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Then they start to settle for difficult shots to compound things.